How to Measure the Happy-Productive Worker Thesis (original) (raw)
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Comprehensive Literature Review on Workplace Happiness linked to Employee Outcomes
Test Engineering & Management, 2020
Happiness is essentially a state of being happy. It means different things to different people. As a concept of subjective well-being of people, it continues to be one of the least understood phenomena in the organizational context. There have been numerous ill-informed or negative beliefs about happiness, both at individual and organizational level, due to which happiness has generally been getting devalued. This can be evidenced from many past research studies that focused primarily on extrinsic factors and job satisfaction to study the workplace. Attempt of this research paper is to do a comprehensive literature review for enhancing the understanding of the concept of workplace happiness and employee outcomes in the appropriate perspective, identifying the factors of workplace happiness, exploring the dimensions of employee outcomes linked to workplace happiness, and help in establishing that workplace happiness is not just a means to an end, but also an end in itself, which corporates need to realise sooner or later in order to manage talent effectively, especially relevant in this current VUCA environment.
Workplace Happiness and Positivity: Measurement, Causes and Consequences
International Journal for Research in Engineering Application & Management (IJREAM), 2019
Happiness is an expression of pleasant forms of emotions, moods, optimistic attitude and wellbeing are growing importance at workplace. This paper is an attempt to explore literature to define happiness, identify current practices, causes, consequences of happiness. And also, to measure happiness at workplace to come up with suggestions to improve happiness at workplace. The literature reveals and provides with a scope of arguments and further search that happiness leads to success precisely through effects of positive outcomes. It was found that Happiness at work includes more than job satisfaction. Individual happiness can be measured through work engagement, organizational commitment. Happiness can be measured at multiple levels, including job experiences, attitude towards work. There is also an evidence that happiness has positive consequences. The companies can be supportive with employees, fairness, creating challenging work environment, promoting good health among employees, career growth opportunities, flexible work options, safe work environment, socialization practices and employee development can enhance happiness at work. There is literature to support correlation between employee happiness, workplace performance and work productivity. And happiness is not ultimate resource to achieve success in career, the other supporting resources are intelligence, perseverance, positive mindset and affluence. It was also found that measuring happiness is too subjective as it is difficult to measure the dynamic nature of emotions. This aspect can be explored through further research on this topic
The Happy-Productive Worker Thesis Revisited
Journal of Happiness Studies, 2008
Despite extensive research on the subject spanning over 70 years, uncertainty still remains as to whether happier workers are in fact more productive. This study combined longitudinal prospective and experience sampling methods to examine the relationship between happiness and self-reported productivity among Directors employed in the public and private sectors. Analyses at a trait level suggested happy people were more productive. Similarly, at the state level of analysis, people were more productive when they were happier. Among the happiness indicators examined (job satisfaction, quality of work life, life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) positive affect was most strongly, but not exclusively, tied to productivity at both the state and trait levels. Discussion focuses on reconciling a long history of mixed findings regarding the happyproductive worker thesis.
Rajagiri Management Journal, 2020
Purpose-In this study, the authors build on the current frameworks of happiness provided by the PERMA model, the World Happiness Report Index and the theoretical framework provided by the proponents of job-satisfaction model, motivation, employee engagement and commitment. The authors argue that, the existing theoretical framework in the management and the HR literature are just different aspects of a common goal-happiness. This position is consistent with the overall happiness projects championed by governments across the world, including the UK, Bhutan, several Scandinavian nations and essentially the United Arab Emirates. A chasm that currently exists in the literature is the availability of a universally acceptable definition for happiness and protocols for measuring happiness. The authors conclude that more research is required to keep pace with industry development relating to employee happiness initiatives. Design/methodology/approach-Using quasi-literature review, the authors analysed selected studies on the theory of happiness to identify how each have treated the concept of happiness in organisations. Findings-It is erroneous to promote national or international happiness initiatives without starting from the micro level-in this case, the institutions of society should start measuring happiness from the micro level to help understand what happiness actually means. Research limitations/implications-As an opinion piece, its recommendations need to be applied cautiously. Originality/value-Till date, only a few studies have explored the concept of happiness from micro-organisational level.
Happiness and well-being at work
2016
The pursuit happiness and well-being has extended to organizations and has been attracting increased attention throughout positive psychology research. This paper aims to review the definition, the different factors predictor of happiness and well being at work and finally it is explained how to improve happiness based in the definition and antecedents. But there is a significant lack of research on its antecedents (Chivato Pérez et al., 2011). Thus we propose that happiness at work implies positive emotions, experiences, positive attitudes (e.g. job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment), personal development and feeling of purpose and significance of the work that contribute to something worthy. To give this definition we have based on eudaimonic and hedonic approach. We have found eight factors predictors of happiness: employee performance, job characteristics, use and development of strengths, positive relationships and positive leadership behavior, positive feedback, positive experiences at work and organizational culture.
A Conceptual Framework of Happiness at the Workplace
Asian Social Science, 2014
Happiness at the workplace refers to how satisfied people are with their work and lives. The idea of happiness is related to individual's subjective well-being. Happiness at the workplace is crucial for improving productivity in any organization. Happy people are productive people while those people who are unhappy may not pay full attention to any task. Some scholars believe that organizations which are able to maintain long-term happiness at the workplace could probably increase and sustain productivity. Therefore, they should know what factors could affect employee happiness in order to effectively enhance happiness at the workplace. But research on employee happiness was rarely seen in the past. The issue of happiness at the workplace needs to be properly conceptualized so that useful research on it could be conducted. This paper presents a potential conceptual framework of happiness at the workplace that could give valuable contribution to future research in this area.
The Concept of Employee's Happiness in Human Resources Management: A Systematic Literature Review
Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 2020
This study was carried out to reveal the importance of employee happiness in terms of Human Resources Management (HRM), to identify organizational concepts and job attitudes related to employee happiness, to accelerate studies on this issue, to guide future researchers and other interested people and to be useful in the literature. In this context, 48 articles published between 1995 and 2020 in the journal "Human Resource Management Review", which was scanned in the Science Citation Index (SCI), were examined through systematic literature review. In the light of the obtained findings, it has been observed that the concept of employee happiness is significantly related to the job attitude, the meaning of the job, the pleasure of work, entertainment at work, safe relationships, perceived justice, attachment styles, emotional loyalty, employee moods, employee cynicism, employee status, employee social skills, employee voice, employee loyalty, employee well-being, work experie...
Happiness is a state of mind, a choice, a way of living; it is not something to be achieved, it is something to be experienced. (Steve Maraboli). Happiness may be described as consisting of positive emotions and positive activities. There may be three kinds of happiness: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Happiness is often derived as an ingredient that is churned out from Change. It is commonly said Change is the only constant and so true it is as the purpose of a Happiness of this study is to better understand the quality of life or the level of happiness of the employees and the impact it has on the employee's performance at the workplace which has "Change" as one of the ingredients. The objective of the study includes the efforts being taken by the human resources team of the large organization in creating an environment which makes the employees happy while they undergo change in Management, Culture, Work Processes and Leadership at large. The findings suggest that most employees are happy with their work life, barring a few members belonging to the older generation who are a little defiant in accepting the Change. The study aims at providing a view of the perceptions of the employees, so that the Human Resource teams may utilize their resources and reach out in their efforts to address the concerns of all employees at large and integrate the efforts towards overall achievement of goals and vision with a larger impact on business transformation.
Workplace Happiness: A Conceptual Framework
2020
Have you ever heard the word ―Arbedjsglæde‖? What does it mean? In Denmark, Arbedjsglæde is the most common term which signifies happiness at work. Arbedjsglæde means the happiness that human beings derive on or after doing something. We can say it is a human emotion, a sense of well-being that turns on when one experiences positive about the work they perform and when they feel involved in the professional commitment. When all's said and done ̳Happiness‘ is a highly subjective experience. Happiness and satisfaction are subjective concepts and are not the same. While for some people monetary assistance can be equated with job satisfaction, on the other hand, some might strive for recognition of their hard-work and lose motivation on failing to achieve so. As well as for some people having a friendly work environment is an indispensable requisite for deriving pleasure. In this article, researchers will capture an in-depth glance into the components of happiness at work and tries ...
Revisiting the Happy-Productive Worker Thesis from a Eudaimonic Perspective: A Systematic Review
Sustainability
The happy-productive worker thesis (HPWT) is considered the Holy Grail of management research, and it proposes caeteris paribus, happy workers show higher performance than their unhappy counterparts. However, eudaimonic well-being in the relationship between happiness and performance has been understudied. This paper provides a systematized review of empirical evidence in order to make a theoretical contribution to the happy-productive worker thesis from a eudaimonic perspective. Our review covers 105 quantitative studies and 188 relationships between eudaimonic well-being and performance. Results reveal that analyzing the eudaimonic facet of well-being provides general support for the HPWT and a much more comprehensive understanding of how it has been studied. However, some gaps and nuances are identified and discussed, opening up challenging avenues for future empirical research to clarify important questions about the relationship between happiness and performance in organizations.